Melrose High School, Melrose, MA

Friday, November 22, 2013

On
November 7th, I became a first time blood donor for the American Red Cross. I
have always wanted to donate blood and needles don’t affect me, so it made
sense. However before the 7th, I did not know where I could
donate blood.

The
Melrose High school blood drive was the perfect solution for me. Being able to
leave my class in order to donate, I headed to the Marcoux Gym to be one of the
first blood donors of the day. After reading up about what I was getting myself
into, a nurse checked some of my vitals and made sure it was safe for me to
donate. Although lying on a table in the middle of the gym was odd, it only
took 15 minutes. Throughout the process extremely kind, presumably
qualified, nurses took care of me, and making sure I was as comfortable as
possible.

After
donating, Student Council members took care of me and the rest of the donors,
making sure we ate drank enough so that we wouldn't pass out. Even
though I wasn't the least bit hungry, student
council made sure I ate from the array of foods they had. After
consuming a copious amount of brownies, cookies, gummies and pretzels, I
went back to class feeling healthy and proud.

Each
donation can save about three lives, and it only takes about an hour. I
understand that for some people needles are not an option, and others have
medical restrictions, but I encourage anyone who may be physically and mentally
able to donate to such an amazing cause. I’m proud to call myself a donor, and
plan on donating again at Melrose High’s Spring blood drive.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Hello,
readers of the Imprint blog. I, Duncan McLeod, have taken it upon myself to ask
the hard questions to various teachers and students, these questions being of
course, ones of deep philosophical nature.
For this article, my five questions focus around the concept of
perfection, such as utopia, and my interviewees were the esteemed Mr. Girard,
Physics and Chemistry teacher extraordinaire, and Geoff Rowe, snare drummer and
student beyond compare. So follows here
the five questions and ten answers provided to your unhumble philosopher,
Duncan McLeod.

Mr.
Girard was asked: “Do you believe that a utopia or its opposite, a dystopia,
could truly exist in this world?” His reply: “No, the way the world has been
structured so far, it seems to me to be something we cannot actually
achieve.” I then asked if we are closer
to, a dystopia or utopia, and his opinion on this was varied, stating we are
closer to a “dystopia, but on some levels of society closer to a utopia.” I proceeded to ask if a permanent world peace
could exist, and he replied in a manner shadowing his answer to the first
question. “Based on human history,” he said, “I don’t think that could ever
happen.” The fourth of the questions
asked was “Can a perfect being exist?” To
this, he replied “an individual, yeah. It is rare, but possible.” And the fifth and final questions asked was
that of “If such a form of perfection can be achieved, how many paths in life
lead there, is there only one path?” and he responded stating that it was
“definitely not one path … It would be a long path.” He ended on the
bittersweet optimistic statement of “we gotta live life hoping.”

To
the student Geoff Rowe the same questions were asked, and his answers were
recorded just the same. When asked if he
believed if a utopia or a dystopia could exist, he responded claiming “yes,
though it would be unlikely to last particularly long,” and in answer to the
second of the queries, he responded that he does believe we are closer to a dystopic society, and did not elaborate further. When he was asked if he felt that a permanent
world peace could exist under any circumstances, he claimed that “perhaps a
long lasting peace, but it would eventually come to an end.” As to the possibility of a perfect being, he
believes strongly that it is possible, though whether he feels that there has
been such a person he refused to say.
And as to the paths by which one might achieve world peace, utopia, or
perfection, he states that if it is possible, there is an infinite number of
paths.

Glossary
of potentially confusing terms and words used above:

utopia: a perfect society, a paradise

dystopia: a flawed society, a horrible place

extraordinaire: a person of great regard
within a field (term of respect and admiration)